YOUR DATA MIRROR was a project that helped digital natives, especially Generation Z, to better understand the dangers of data misuse and political manipulation and to raise their awareness for the need to protect their personal data.
The multi-format project consisted of three components:
1. a personalized web experience that demonstrated to visitors the workings of data-driven manipulation using their own Instagram profile.
2. an informative web portal that dealt with related topics such as data protection, politics and the digital future.
3. an accompanying Instagram campaign to ensure that the project and its content had a particularly wide reach among the relevant target group.
The Interactive Media Foundation initiated the project to counter the growing threat of misinformation and online manipulation, such as micro-targeting, and to equip young people with the knowledge and tools to protect their data. We were able to engage directly with the target group via Instagram and stimulate an important dialog.
In total, our social media campaign reached over 3 million people in Germany. Over 50,000 users visited the online knowledge portal and used the web experience. We hope that our project helped them understand the need to protect private data and thus raise awareness on the issue of data protection. We are ending the project with many valuable achievements and insights as well as a strengthened network of experts.
Click here for the archived version of the knowledge portal.
YOUR DATA MIRROR received several awards, including multiple Webby Awards, the Lovie Award and the Paedagogoscher Medienpreis (German Educational Media Award), which underlines its high recognition in the field of digital education. The project has also been presented at various events: Including presentations at the re:publica, rC3 conference, YouMeCon, the Chaos Computer Club, Digital Social Summit and a live presentation at Bread for the World, among others.
YOUR DATA MIRROR was a project of the Interactive Media Foundation in co-creation with the creative agency Neeeu. We would like to thank our partners Ag-Prop (campaign development), Kissinger Twins (interactive film), Tactical Tech (content development) and Studio Float (animations) for their valuable support. Special thanks also go to Amnesty International, the University of Cambridge and the Free University of Berlin for their content and academic support. The video production was funded by the Fonds Soziokultur.
A complete overview of the project credits can be found under the following link.
Where do we go from here?
Current developments make it clear that the social climate is becoming increasingly polarized. According to the study by the Kompetenznetzwerk Hass im Netz (German competence network on hate on the internet), online hate speech has significantly increased in recent years, leading to an intensification of public debates. This polarization is exacerbated by technological advances, particularly the spread of artificial intelligence and targeted opinion manipulation by social and traditional media. Although trust in institutions and the media remains stable, the extreme political poles are becoming increasingly radicalized, which is also reflected in the results for the European elections. In the long term, this development threatens our fundamental values of freedom and democracy and poses a serious problem for us all.
Building on our experience from YOUR DATA MIRROR, we are therefore already in intensive discussions on the development of new projects in the areas of media education, digital society and the preservation of democracy. Our future projects will use the lessons learned to further promote these issues together with a strong interdisciplinary network of partners and experts and to counteract the increasing threats.
The YOUR DATA MIRROR experience was an interactive video that used AI to generate a psychological profile from visitors' Instagram texts and photos. This profile then tailored the video's information and narrative to show viewers how they could be influenced based on their psychological traits.
